Media day has arrived once again, and while historically for the Detroit Pistons it has been about getting a sense of players’ offseason work, getting in the best shape of your life, and building on whatever you learned last season, this year it had a bit of extra drama — the Jalen Duren contract standoff.
Duren, the All-Star and All-NBA restricted free agent of the Pistons, was not in attendance at media day, and that left others to do the talking about Duren. There isn’t much people can say — Pistons president Trajan Langdon categorically refused to comment on anything even tangentially related to contract negotiations.
However, if I am free to award myself the latitude of informed speculation and intuition, I think there was plenty to learn about the Jalen Duren saga from today’s media day. Here are my top 5 takeaways.
1. Jalen Duren WILL be a Detroit Piston this season
Look, everything could be positioning and a negotiating tactic. But Trajan Langdon provided little daylight in his expressed expectations regarding Duren this season. “He will be a Detroit Piston,” Langdon said. You can’t get more unequivocal than that.
Moreso, Langdon seemed to go into today’s media session with a game plan to make one thing clear — whenever this drama plays itself out to its inevitable conclusion, mission one was to make clear that it will all be water under the bridge when Duren does arrive back with the team, whether that be on a new long-term deal or on a one-year qualifying offer.
“He’s going to be a huge part of the team, regardless of which decision he does make. He will be a Detroit Piston, and we’ll do everything we can to support him and get the best version of him, which is what we’ve done the past two years, and that will not change. Those are things that we can control. His decision is not a point that we can control,” Langdon said.
2. Jalen Duren’s reps might be off of the Christmas card list this year
Langdon was exacting and elegant with his word choice, but I think it’s pretty clear that as much as it’s all water under the bridge once Duren is finally back with the team, there is no love lost between Duren’s reps and Langdon. When Langdon was asked about the media reports that indicate that Duren feels disrespected by the franchise over how these talks have played out, Langdon felt particularly measured. Sometimes its the sense of what you’re not saying that says a lot, you know what I mean. That didn’t mean Trajan delivered useless pablum.
“I won’t let anybody’s feelings get in the way of decisions that I make professionally. That has nothing to do [with it]. So reports that are out there are also meaningless to me.”
It felt clear to me that Langdon understands that this is a bit of asymmetric warfare where Duren’s people are able to easily plant narratives into the media and that he isn’t going to get into the business of playing the same game. Whether that amounts to understandable hardball or not negotiating in good faith, I can’t quite tell. But it feels like if there is any bad blood, it is not on Duren and is instead on Duren’s reps.
3. Trajan Langdon hasn’t spoken to Jalen Duren all summer
This is the most straightforward — Langdon literally said, “I have not spoken to the young man all summer” in regards to Duren. I wanted to list this as its own line item because I am speculating it might get picked up and aggregated on social media. But please understand that a GM not being in direct contact with a player during negotiations is completely normal and expected. When you get to the point of negotiating big contracts, it can involve big feelings. We’ve certainly seen that play out. So it’s best to have a bright dividing line between the hard work of putting dollar numbers to worth and personal relationships. Contract talks are for agents not for players.
4. Even if the fans are in their feelings, the players have no beef with JD
It’s just business. That was a clear message anytime a player was asked about Jalen Duren. Most notably, that was the message delivered by Cade Cunningham. Much was made in the media of the fact that Cunningham organized a team retreat, and Duren opted not to attend while he was still negotiating his contract. Cunningham couldn’t have seemed to care less. Cunningham equated it to the high-level negotiations he himself had with the Pistons last offseason, and that Duren was just doing what was best for him.
“I mean, that’s my brother. You know, on the court, off the court, we went to war together, obviously. But you know, we’ve had dinners together. I’ve met his family. He’s met my family. The negotiation is between front office and his representation, and so they’re gonna figure that out,” Cunningham said. “So the best thing I can do is be there for them to support them, encourage them, not let them get too down whenever it’s such a crazy time for them.”
5. In Paul Reed we trust
While Duren was the main topic of the day in the minds of the media, nearly everyone spontaneously had great things to say about Paul Reed, who will serve as Duren’s backup or maybe even the team’s starting center should Duren continue his holdout deep into the season.
JB Bickerstaff called him the hardest-working player he’s ever been around. That is not faint praise when you consider how many players Bickerstaff has been around during his long coaching career. Cunningham praised Paul. Javonte Green praised Paul. Isaiah Joe reminisced about how they both entered the league in Philadelphia together and that he was the first player he heard from after the trade from OKC.
As for Paul himself, he was his typical self — hates losing, obsessed with working hard, and not making anything more complicated than it needs to be. Just do what you do to help the team be successful. We will see just how much will get put onto Paul’s plate once the season finally arrives.
